[Overall Grade] The PlayStation 3, despite having one of the rockiest (if not the rockiest) starts in gaming history, is constantly being improved, expanded and retooled. The weeks without a solid PlayStation Store update are gone now, the content that's there is impressive to say the least, the core features are being improved constantly and the suite of tools available to developers is getting easier to implement. It's nowhere close to where we'd like it to be, but taken on the same merits at launch or a year ago, the about-face the system has done in improving itself is laudable.

Still, things do need to change. The network speeds -- even for us on a ridiculously fast connection -- are far too slow for the amount of content up on the store and in games. The patching process can be monumentally bone-headed at times (Hours of updates just to get online? Seriously, Sony?), and the scattershot nature of things like custom soundtracks and, at least for now, Trophies leaves more than a little room for improvement. If we're still complaining about the lack of universal backwards compatibility in a year, expect to see some heavy-handed grading. And IGN doesn't grade on a curve, see?

Grade: B Notes: The PlayStation 3 has so much potential. If only it would apply itself a little more. It's clearly capable of great things, but without improving on some of the key areas outlined above, it'll never reach that potential. Also, something really must be done about getting it into a bigger class size. Perhaps we should speak with the school about lowering tuition costs...